The Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) and Gulf Organisation for Research & Development (GORD) have released a new report which outlines the sustainable waste management practices implemented at FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ stadium construction sites.

Titled ‘Waste Management Best Practices for Construction Sites: Case Studies from FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ Stadiums’, the report aims to inform local contractors – and the wider construction industry – about efficient waste management strategies.

The practices described in the report outline Qatar’s commitment to environmental sustainability and its plans to host the first carbon-neutral FIFA World Cup™. They also highlight Qatar’s ambition to achieve sustainability certification under the Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS), which aims to improve a project’s environmental performance and promotes the reuse of waste at construction sites, recycling wherever possible and responsible disposal at authorised landfill facilities.

Engineer Bodour Al Meer, the SC’s Sustainability Director, said: “Minimising waste and increasing recycling is a key strategic objective of the Qatar 2022 Sustainability Strategy and we are proud of our achievements in this area.

“This report on waste management serves to document some of our best practices and share what we have learned so that other construction sites can be operated in similar ways and ideally achieve even higher rates of recycling.”

The Founding Chairman of GORD, Dr. Yousef Alhorr, said: “All World Cup projects in Qatar have adopted unconventional measures to manage site waste and limit their carbon footprint during the construction phase. Guided by the GSAS framework, we have documented these best construction waste management practices. Through this report, we hope to benefit and support the entire construction community in its quest towards developing a sustainably built environment.”

Al Horr continued: “Embracing green practices on site presents a range of opportunities beyond the obvious benefit of preserving our ecosystem. Reusing and recycling construction materials, for instance, not only diverts waste from landfill but also cuts down the cost of new materials required for future use.”

The report follows the principles of the circular economy by outlining best practices linked with reducing, reusing and recycling. Starting with waste segregation, the document guides professionals through a hierarchy of various steps and aspects of the waste management cycle with field evidence collected from their implementation on stadium sites.

Qatar 2022 stadiums have implemented world-class waste management practices by ensuring proper waste segregation, sorting and storing; through facilities available on site, and by outsourcing authorised licensed waste subcontractors to handle and transfer different types of recyclable wastes from construction sites to their correct destinations.

The stadium sites collectively diverted 79% of solid waste from landfill through reuse and recycling practices. Ninety per cent of the waste generated at Al Janoub Stadium and 84% generated at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium was either reused or recycled. For the ongoing Ras Abu Aboud Stadium project, the share of waste diverted so far is around 95%. The diverted waste from the four other stadiums ranges between 72% and 80%.

The report estimates the amount of waste generated at each site, with the data assisting in planning the required setup for waste management and reduction. Some of these calculations include the generated waste per gross floor area, daily generated food waste per worker and percentage of different waste streams.

The report also outlines the various challenges of waste management in relation to major construction projects, including the requirement to allocate ample space, labour and machinery to the project. In addition, the report outlines the importance of awareness programmes and implementing waste documentation tracking systems.

This is the latest report published by the SC and GORD. The two organisations previously teamed up to produce the Dust Management Best Practices for Construction Sites report, which also focused on Qatar 2022 stadiums.